


Oats in the Water

by sankontesu



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 01:05:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6832561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sankontesu/pseuds/sankontesu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inuyasha thought he'd be surviving the zombie Apocalypse alone. And then enters Kagome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oats in the Water

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I wrote this for feudal-promts, a seven day challege for inuyasha fic writing on tumblr. The prompt for the day was "Zombie!AU". We still got more prompts if you're interested in joining, just head over to feudal-prompts dot tumblr dot com.
> 
> There is eventually a smut scene, so that's why the rating. Other than that, it's a long, self-indulgent ride and I still can't believe I wrote this. Good luck.

* * *

**_1_ **

_She's useless._

**That,** Inuyasha knew the moment they crossed paths.

Her eyes were wide and bright, and _scared_. Fear was something that attached itself like a cancer- a fatal disease that curled itself into every corner and crevice of the brain until it ultimately brought down the mallet of death. Whether it be in the form of the _undead_ ripping into you with their gnarly fingernails and teeth, or whether it be starvation- it got you one way or another.

 _"Run!"_ She had screamed at him then, stopping just in front of him, dressed in a skirt of all things, and a school shirt with a missing scarf- not a weapon in sight. " _They're coming!"_

Inuyasha remembered going down a list of reasons to leave her in the dust, using her body as bait and furrow, but something made him reach out his calloused hand to roughly and yank her against him. She didn't even make a squeak of protest as he fled, leaping into the wind.

And now he was stuck with her, taking care of not only himself, but her as well, because saving her skinny behind wasn't enough- she demanded to stay with him.

Well, maybe not demanded _verbally._ But when she slid down the steep-side of a cliff, tried to eat poisonous herbs, and nearly walked into another horde of flesh eating monsters, Inuyasha knew that leaving her to her own devices was more or less a death sentence. And then all the invested time he had put into rescuing her would have been for nothing. Although that was probably inevitable anyway.

"How the hell did you survive this long anyway?"

She lumbered over to the middle of the campsite and threw another branch into the small spitting fire. "Is that a question, or an insult?"

He sniffed and looked away, refusing to entertain the conversation any longer. It was a mistake to open his mouth at her anyway. If there was one thing he had learned since picking her up, it was that she was a chatterbox incapable of shutting up.

The girl rooted herself by the dying embers and warmed up her hands, running them down to her knees and calves. As if that would help any.

"Jus' sit still. You'll warm up eventually." He muttered, picking up a stray piece of timber and chucking it in with precision.

She stiffened and then bent her knees forward, resting her chin on them. "It hasn't been that long, you know."

He grunted and impulsively smoothed his fingers along the neck of the sword at his side.

"It's only been…six weeks give or take. Since the outbreak I mean. You make it sound like it's been much longer…" She sighed and pulled on the tattered remains of her sleeves. "I was at school when it all happened. Thankfully I had two spare uniforms in my bag, so I've…managed."

 _I don't care,_ he wanted to say. But he didn't bother. She'd just keep going anyway.

"I lived in a shrine with my mom, grandfather, and little brother. I went straight home after they released us, but…when I got there…" Her voice, though cheerful at first, had begun to develop an undertone of sorrow. "They were gone. So I think they're still out there somewhere. After, I traveled with a group of kids from school but…" He filled in the blanks.

She inhaled, letting out the breath in a quick sigh. "What about you?" She inquired, looking over to the half-demon sitting in the tree across her.

"Same as everyone else's," he muttered, glancing at her and then glaring fiercely at a faraway point in the dark forest. "Nothing worth addin'."

The conversation finally died after that.

* * *

**2**

Her name was Kagome Higurashi and she was seventeen years old. She had been accepted to damn near every refined university California constructed, and had her heart set on studying abroad to her mother's homeland of Japan.

She had a calico cat named Buyo, a younger brother named Sota, and liked her rice sticky and brown.

Inuyasha had come to know just about every inane little detail of the girl that currently followed pace behind him in the rainy meadow.

Not that he ever asked.

"Do you come with an off switch?" He questioned with a small hidden grin, his voice rising over the pitter-patter of the storm.

He could almost hear her lips pursing indignantly, "I'm just making conversation. Although I guess I never know why I bother, because you don't exactly-"

His ears twitched and he crouched low to the ground suddenly, instructing her with his hand to follow suit. A shadow appeared on his left and he whipped around to face it on his haunches. The ground beneath them was slippery with mud as he twisted to follow the threat.

Kagome's lips parted, fearfully whispering, "What-"

He shoved his hand onto her mouth.

"No need to be sneakin around!" A voice shouted from beyond the overgrowth of the meadow. A figure appeared in front of him and Inuyasha began to quickly calculate his next move.

More shadows with smug faces appeared and it became blatantly obvious that they had walked straight into an ambush. How could he have not sensed them nearby?

"Boys, take a gander. Here we were worried about weapons, and a blessing drops from the heavens."

The half-demon growled and fisted his claws into the soil from where he knelt. Kagome's eyes focused grimly on the rusty katana that lay pliant against his back. It had saved her numerous times when Inuyasha unsheathed it and had the heads of the undead rolling lifeless at her feet. But what good could it do against a circle of living men?

"Now," The man at the center with a crooked grin drawled with his thick country accent, "We can do this the easy way, or we can go about it the hard way. We're pretty indifferent either way, ain't we boys?"

A chorus of dark chuckles followed.

"Give up the sword and whatever other weapons ya'll have, and we'll let you go. Maybe."

Inuyasha stood slowly, ignoring their self-confident faces morphing into disgust when his ears came into view. Kagome skittered to join him, but when she tried to move forward to his side, he blocked her and pushed her back behind him with a rough push of his arm.

He noticed the way the men stared at her like they were famished and hadn't eaten in days. The growl at the back of his throat turned guttural and savage.

"Inuyasha," Kagome insisted quietly, shifting her eyes from the men to the guns in their hands. "Let's just give it to them."

"Should listen to your woman," the man opposite of them encouraged, his lips twisting into a cruel smile as his stare redirected to Kagome. "Pretty little thang. Don't seem fittin' to be with someone like you…"

"Don't be lookin' at her," Inuyasha hissed, his voice rising as he glared. "Seems kinda funny to be asking for weapons when ya got plenty from what I see…Unless…" He sniffed at the air with an assertive look on his face, "You don't got many _bullets."_

The smile faded from the man's face. "Should've known a half-breed like you would be wantin' to smell things he shouldn't be." He unclipped a pistol from his waist and aimed it straight at the couple. "Wanna test your nose against this?"

The rancid scent of gun-powder infiltrated Inuyasha's nostrils and he resisted a sneeze.

"Seize em' boys!" The man ordered loudly, gesturing wildly to Kagome with his weapon, "And bring that fine pair of legs to me."

"Stay behind me." Inuyasha commanded in a low voice, the gold in his eyes bleeding into something chilling and scarlet. Kagome was breathless and she stood frozen, watching the half-demon in a flash unsheathe is sword. Something mystical pulsed against them.

"Ah shit, that thing's all rusted up…thought it'd be useful-" Was the last thing she heard the man holding the gun say before a flash of white threw her back against the mud. She witnessed the sword in Inuyasha's grip transform into a brilliant and beautiful fang, larger and thicker than both his arms put together.

And then he was a blur of movement in front of her, running with almost teleport type speed- slicing through the flesh in front of him as if it was as easy as cutting paper. A curtain of bullets rung out and she made to scream but her voice died in her throat when she realized they made no difference.

Inuyasha was unstoppable, a torrent of rage and unrestrained fury barreling through the gunshots, and they did nothing but dig into him like raindrops against skin.

A firework display of blood and limbs and rain burst into the air, and it was over quicker than it began.

A severed hand still holding a large crossbow fell against her naked knee and Kagome was jolted from a trance-like state.

Everyone was in pieces around them. The long lengths of grass tickled her cheek. A long bridge of silence and rainfall stretched out almost uncrossable between them.

"Inuyasha…" She called out quietly.

" _What?"_ He spat bitingly, blinking his blood-thirsty crimson eyes at her. He looked ready to pounce again.

"Inuyasha." She tried again firmly.

His lids flickered, and then the red pools that smiled at her hungrily snapped back to agitated amber.

They stayed motionless for a moment, Kagome staring at him like she was trying to make sense of what just happened, and Inuyasha staring back like he was waiting for her to run.

Finally, he just spit to the side and the sword morphed back to the useless katana from before. He put it away and turned his back on her, ready to leap away. He wouldn't be the one to watch her leave.

"Wait!" Kagome jumped to her feet, picking up the weapon at her feet and hitching it onto her shoulder for future necessities. "Where are you- were you…about to leave me?" Her voice bounced back and forth between angry and abandoned.

"What does it look like?" He replied hoarsely.

Her eyes stung with tears, "Why?"

"Because this is who I am!" His voice was high and broken, as if he were trying to defend against an onslaught of accusations she would never voice out loud. "I'm dangerous! And you're-" he stopped to survey her before tacking on, "You are completely useless."

She looked at him wide in shock, taking one step forward and then taking another step back. Her nails dug into her palms as she fisted them, her mouth dragging into a thin unimpressed line.

Kagome knew she wasn't good at figuring out escape routes, burning fires for a campsite, skinning animals for dinner, or even killing zombies on sight. And she knew all of that was going to have to change, but Inuyasha could have been less of a dick about it.

"Oh is that so?" She said in a hazardously low voice. "Useless."

A shiver ran up his spine, a fear taking a hold of his heart that he hadn't felt in an awfully long time.

"Wait- where you goin'? And what the hell are you doing with that thing- yer gonna poke your damn eye out."

"What does it look like?" She parroted saucily. "And I'll deal with it just fine, thank you very much."

"Come back here," Inuyasha jogged back to her side, unsure how he ended up on the other side of this conversation. "You can't be out here alone, you'll get killed- or worse."

"Seems like something you don't have to worry about." She ran her arm underneath her nose to staunch a sniffle.

He gritted his teeth in frustration, on the brink of deciding that she wasn't even worth the trouble.

"Just go back to leaving me behind." She grumbled.

"I was trying to protect you!" He shouted and a hidden brood of quail nearby took flight, spooking the both of them.

"From what?" She regained her focus and glared at him, eyes fixed squarely on the way his jaw twitched.

"Me!"

"You just _protected_ me," she narrowed her eyes, confusion swimming behind her tears. "Did you just forget what happened back there? I was almost kidnapped? You saved me?"

"I _killed_ those men, and I didn't do it because I was trying to _protect_ you."

The venom in his voice took her aback. She shot out her arm and yanked at the red fabric of his jacket sleeve angrily, "Who cares what your reasoning was? You still saved me."

"I killed them because my blood was calling for me to do it. I couldn't wait to feel their flesh run through my blade. You think you're safe with me? You think you're safe with a monster like that?"

Kagome had grabbed him but now he stepped into her, invading her space and trying to intimidate her.

"You're not a monster," she replied softly, comprehension dawning on her. The blocks in the game of Tetris they had been playing finally fell into place. The rain continued to fall in sheets, washing away the streaks of blood that caked his face like allegations. She impulsively reached a hand out to hold his cheek.

The feral look on his face dropped into the expression of a lost little boy.

The rain began to subside and Kagome's face flared up when she realized with acute embarrassment where her hand still was. She dropped it in a flourish.

"Sorry, I don't know where that came from," she apologized with a mumble.

"Yeah, that was uh- that was fucking weird."

"Shut up," she wiped some mud off her chin, and ran her mind on the events that had transpired in the past hour. "So you'll stay?"

"Keh," he scoffed, blinking back his fleeting moment of vulnerability. "I guess. You're still as useful as a sack of flour though."

She rolled her bright pretty eyes and looked down at the heavy bow in her hold. "We'll see about that."

* * *

**3**

"Oh don't tell me it's another squirrel for dinner!" Kagome complained, stretching out her legs- now dressed in a fitting pair of what she liked to call _apocalyptic pants_. Inuyasha had noticed them on one of their runs for rations. ' _They were in the kids section,'_ he had teased. Always acting like her figure was a bother to him.

Inuyasha threw her a scandalized look, "Hunt your own damn dinner if you're into feeling so damn picky."

She chuckled and opened her palm expectantly. "Just give it here."

He grunted and dropped it, feeling a bit underappreciated.

"Find anything?" Kagome stabbed the fatty flesh of the rodent with a prong and settled it over the fire.

"Just some more cans."

"Were the labels worn off again? We still don't have a can-opener…"

"Tsh, I can open them just fine."

"Yeah. Sure you can."

"What!" He looked half-confused, half-insulted, "They get open don't they?!"

"With half the contents on the floor."

"Oi, don't start."

"Mmm." Kagome turned the meat and reached behind her for their rationed bottle of salt.

"What about you? Find anything?"

She worried the bottom of her lip and suddenly felt a heat rise to her cheeks. "Well actually…"

Inuyasha looked at her inquisitively, not entirely certain he liked the way she was fidgeting, "What?"

"I uh- well…let me just show you." She got up and moved across the camp to dig through her bag of contents. She had kept things she deemed important in there. Her collection of arrows, postcards from the various cities they'd visited, a pair of socks she was saving for winter.

When she seemingly found what she was looking for, she walked back over and took a seat aside him. "Here."

A shining necklace dangled from her fingers, a chain of gold met in the middle by a heart-shaped locket that winked in the dancing firelight.

"Wh-what is this?" He choked, realizing it was for him. "Are you kidding me, you scoured for three hours and came up with…this useless thing!?"

She sighed petulantly and was about to tuck it back into her pocket before he snatched it from her. He inspected it with a sniff, "Kagome, please tell me you didn't just come back with this."

"No, I didn't." She mumbled, chewing on her cheek and scooting a little further from him. "I found some beef jerky too."

"Jerky!" He exclaimed, stuffing the trinket into an unknown part of his jacket, forcing all his attention on some well-deserved dehydrated beef. "Give it here."

She passed it over to him with a huff and then began to roll out her sleeping-bag for slumber, suddenly tremendously exhausted. It wasn't like she expected him to be thrilled with her find, but it would have been nice if his first reaction wasn't to act like she had wasted her time. They had been getting along really well in the past few weeks. Almost too well, and he had even stopped sleeping up on his perch in the treetops. His bed was next to her now- although that made falling asleep more of a challenge for reasons Kagome didn't want to think about.

Things had become tranquil and comfortable. They'd sleep, they'd wake up, kill zombies, they'd travel, they'd talk, kill zombies, they'd do runs either together or alone, train with their weapons, kill zombies, and then have dinner together. Squirrel was always on the menu.

Kagome crossed an arm over her face, blocking out the light of the fire and tried to sort out her thoughts before bed. Still feeling like an idiot about the locket.

Then, the distant sound of the undead growls ran a thread of dread down into her stomach. "Inuyasha-"

"I got it, stay here." He whispered, moving forward and disappearing into the foliage.

"Just another night in paradise," Kagome murmured to herself.

* * *

**4**

They were on their run as was typical of most mornings, and there was nothing seemingly out of place. Inuyasha had mentioned in his _don't-ask-me-questions_ tone that he knew of the town they were passing through, and Kagome had decided not to push it. He had already revealed enough for the month.

He grew up with a single human mother, who died before the outbreak, had an older brother who ditched him and in his own words "might as well be dead, because I don't give a shit". The sword on his back that transformed on occasion was due to his demon blood- both of which were passed down by his father. And as a special birthday present to her, he had even shared his favorite memory with his mother over a field of flowers when they were taking a rare moment for themselves to relax under the sunshine.

So when they cruised by one of the main squares of the town and Kagome noticed the way his shoulders ran up to his neck, plus the expression on his face going blank- she _still_ didn't push it.

Except when there was a pharmacy at the corner of the street- one that didn't look ransacked. And they had recently run low on medical supplies.

"Inuyasha-"

"No."

She scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms, lagging behind him as he strutted straight past her. "What? Inuyasha, that's a pharma-"

"And we ain't fucking goin, so can you drop it."

"No. I can't. That's a perfectly put together building full of supplies. And don't you remember when you lectured me on survival in the ' _new world'_?" She used her fingers as quotation marks for emphasis.

"Kagome-"

"Rule number two, _never_ leave goods behind," she mimicked in an over-exaggerated version of his voice. "They would just give more ammunition to your enemies." Her voice trailed away as she made a sharp left, bee-lining it to the brick building.

She glanced up to inspect the once illuminated red cross at the top of the structure.

"Kagome, if you go in there, I'm not going in after you."

"Can you just explain why, and I won't?"

His jaw gnashed together and she saw a flash of desperation on his face before it was replaced with annoyance. His eyebrows knit into an irritable look and he huffed, turning his back on her, and walking away without further notice.

"What a dramatic dog…" Kagome chewed on the inside of her cheek with a frown, rasping her knuckle onto the window panes to lure out any unwanted zombies from within. "It's not like this is an ink shop." Her mind traced back to the time she had unknowingly brought him into a calligraphy-pen store, and he promptly fainted before she had even opened the front door.

After a few seconds of waiting for whatever could have been inside to make an appearance, and coaxing no response, she jimmied open the lock and carefully walked in.

"Hellooo," she sung, craning her head around to take a survey of what was left inside.

Everything was untouched. Neat rows of bottled antibiotics labeled and color-coded winked back at her in the shining daylight that streaked through the entryway. Piles of packaged rags and gauze lay ready for storing on the counter. It gave an eerie feel of normalcy that Kagome hadn't seen since before the outbreak.

In fact…

Kagome spun around and noticed that nothing looked looted, but it definitely seemed like someone was trying to plan ahead. Things were packed into boxes, gallons of water were stacked in one corner, bundled non-perishable snacks in the other.

She bit her lip, a wave of guilt rolling over her softly. It was never easy when the traces of those who hadn't been so fortunate were laid out so neatly for her to examine. Kagome always felt like she was walking through sacred ground- like it was a gravesite for a dead society.

"He better not have gone far," she mumbled angrily to herself, loudly pushing as many pills and wraps and cotton into the bottom of her backpack as possible. Her fingers ran curiously over some of the antibiotic names she didn't recognize, weighing whether or not to leave them behind.

Maybe there was a book somewhere around here that explained what each one was and their uses.

Moving around the room, she bumped into one of the few boxes full of snacks.

 _Lucky bastard,_ she thought sourly when her eye caught on the bags upon bags of _Flamin' Hot Cheetos._ They were Inuyasha's favorite.

Kagome bent down with a wry smile to inspect the lightly illuminated red bags, thinking it would be satisfying to only take _one_ and eat it on her return to meet up with him. Make him regret not joining her.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Inuyasha," she began reciting to herself. "I just _couldn't_ bring them, my bag was already _so_ full. If only you were there…" She sighed dramatically, followed by a sad giggle. She really did wonder why he had been so adamant about not coming though…

Then the telling sound of saliva gurgling echoed behind her and she didn't have a chance to get up before a set of thin dead fingers tangled themselves into her long black strands of hair. Kagome yelped in surprise, falling back and twisting just in time before a pair of decayed teeth sank into her exposed neck.

It was a female, probably the same height and build as her, although every pound of flesh on her was honed on taking Kagome apart, putting the living girl at a distinct disadvantage.

"Inuyasha!" She screamed on impulse, terror pooling into her gut as the face of the woman snapped and bit into the air of space between them.

Kagome had begun strength training with Inuyasha, which is really the only reason she was able to fend off the zombie at all. But she still couldn't push it all the way back, laying vulnerable on her spine with a bone-crushing weight on her chest.

 _Is this really happening?_ She thought to herself. Adrenaline shot into her arms as she forced the body backwards, inch by inch. The friendly glint of a dagger at her waist gleamed up at her. If only she could get to it without risking being bit…

Is this how Inuyasha would find her when he got worried enough to track her back? Just another dead girl sprawled out on the floor with her innards weighing uselessly in this creature's stomach?

The savage click of flesh-shredding teeth were scant centimeters away from piercing into Kagome's turned cheek before the pharmacy door jingled open wildly. From one breath to the other, the pressure on her chest elevated and she realized she had been saved.

"Inuyasha," she breathed harshly, never having been more thankful in her life.

"Get out!" He struggled through his clamped teeth as he held the squirming body back by the arms. "Go!"

She scampered back on her feet and ran to the crossbow she had left abandoned by her bag- _like an idiot,_ she thought. She turned and took aim, rearing an arrow back on the notch.

She fired just as Inuyasha extended an arm and pushed her to the side with a sharp, "No!"

"What the-" She fell and they all collided to the floor. Inuyasha, Kagome and the zombie intent on eating them both. "Have you gone absolutely mad!?"

"Just get out!" Inuyasha glared at her ferociously, although she couldn't miss the note of worry in his tone. He was suffering, but from what- she couldn't place yet.

And then the world zoomed into focus again, and she strung the pieces of a puzzle together to form a clear picture-

His sudden anxiety over walking through a town he was already familiar with, the way he stubbornly refused going into a perfectly stocked pharmacy, the boxes upon boxes of _Flamin' Hot Cheetos_ …

"You knew her."

A sound akin to an animal dying ripped from his throat. "Kagome please just get the fuck-"

"She's dead!" She exclaimed angrily, rounding him now that he finally held control of the situation. "She's not alive anymore!"

"She's still…" He trailed off into a pitiful whine, the pained expression on his face telling enough of how close she was- had been- to his heart.

The body continued to thrive and trash and spit, sticky saliva dribbling out of her dry parted lips.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha," Kagome whispered as she cocked her crossbow over her shoulder again.

" _Wait_!" He howled, his eyes glazed over with an emotion Kagome had never seen on him before. It seemed so unnatural and out of place. "I'll do it. I should have…I should have done it long ago. I owe this to her."

He held her still with one large bicep, using his free hand to pick up the fired arrow from before. His voice caught on the wind as he choked it out, broken and lost with the raised weapon-

_"I'm so sorry, Kikyo."_

* * *

**5**

They had walked together in silence, and purposely left behind the box of snacks. Her shoulder weighed heavy with the medical supplies.

Kagome mulled over what her next choice of words should be. Does she ask about it? Does she joke about it? Does she ignore it?

"Her name was Kikyo," he led for her.

 _I know,_ she wanted to reply. _I heard you._

"Was- was she your uh…" She wiped the sweat off her palms with the fabric on her waist.

"Something like that."

"Hmm." Kagome looked down sadly at the ground, listening to the sound of their steps crunching the leaves beneath them. "I'm sorry."

He nodded gravely and then shrugged. "Whatever."

The atmosphere between them was tense and full of questions, although most of them were practically answered already.

He had harbored profound feelings her, of that much was certain. The nature of their relationship was romantic and deep and intense. Such so that he had struggled badly with killing her when she turned. Probably failing terribly the first time and keeping it bottled away, hoping he'd never have to be reminded of his heart again.

Locking it away in that pharmacy.

"You loved her," Kagome released like a toxin into air.

He stared at her in shock, his mouth twisting into a snarl as if she had just accused him of being human, "What the fuck would you know about it?"

"You don't have to get so aggressive," she bit back with a pout. "I'm just trying-"

"Yeah yeah, _trying to make conversation_ ," he mocked. "Well why don't you try to make conversation elsewhere? Oh, and by the way, that stunt back there. Don't think you're going to be doing that to me twice."

Her jaw dropped open, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" Inuyasha barked.

"S-stunt?!" She all but shrilled.

"Hey!" He pointed a critical finger at her, "You want to wake the dead?"

"I was getting supplies, for the _both_ of us." She fisted her hands on her hips, pushing forward, "You're the weirdo that couldn't tell me the truth before I ran into the arms of a corpse!"

"I'm not entitled to tell you shit!"

"We're partners-"

"Partners?" He said in a deadly quiet voice, "You think we're partners? You get me killed almost every single damn time we interact with these disgusting creatures, and you consider us _partners_?"

Kagome could feel a boil simmer just under her skin as she shouted, "You're the idiot who couldn't off his ex-girlfriend the first time around, and it nearly got _me_ killed!"

Inuyasha grabbed the front of her shirt, yanking her close. Kagome didn't even have time to yelp in surprise before he dragged her within an inch of his body. She threw up a hand between them and it was the only thing that separated them from being flush against each other.

He looked about ready to hiss something at her but she instinctively slapped him straight across his face. She had never hit somebody like that before in her life, and she wasn't familiar with the sudden flush of both shame and satisfaction that filled her.

A red mark bloomed over his cheek.

If the atmosphere was tense before, Kagome had no dictionary term for whatever it had manifested into now.

"I'm sorry," she backpedaled quickly, surprising herself. "I didn't me-"

"Save it." He dropped her and looked over her coolly, the way he often did when they were passing by a horde of zombies. Looking through her like she was nothing at all.

"Wait-"

He ignored her and leapt into the cerulean sky, disappearing from view.

"Oh no," Kagome said solemnly. "Good going, Higurashi."

* * *

**_6_ **

Once nightfall hit, Kagome was overcome with a gnawing worry that ripped at her belly.

She used the training that Inuyasha had taught her to pile up a decent campsite- dragging the right type of wood to the center and lighting it with the use of spare matches in her sack. She took out a few noisy zombies and was constantly vigilant of any others that dared cross her path.

Paranoid actually might have been a better word for it.

She had grown so accustomed to the extra pair of half-dog-demon senses, that she felt weak and helpless simply relying on her own.

Although that wasn't the only reason she waited on bated breath for his return.

"Inuyasha," she whimpered into the crackle of the fire. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

Somewhere in the middle of the night, past the cacophony of the usual night-time terrors, she heard something land softly at her camp.

She was up in a flash of movement, crossbow placed expertly over her shoulder, eyes trying in vain to make out whatever shadowy figure was in front of her.

"Kagome," the unknown threat said somberly.

It had barely been twelve hours, but Kagome Higurashi missed this man with the entirety of her heart.

She couldn't sleep, she couldn't even think of anything else other than that miserable look of agony that she had caused to whirl across his expression from before.

So it was without pause that she leapt forward, her weapon crashing to the floor as she propelled herself without restraint into his arms, using her emotions as fuel to the engine of her soul. He remained still at first, accepting of the warm body that rested comfortably against his.

And then he reciprocated, encircling her waist and pulling her deeper into him. He cradled the back of her head with one hand, the other digging into a web of hair, and shuttering a gasp that he drowned into the flesh of her shoulder.

"I was worried," she cried softly. "I thought I had chased you off for good."

"Keh," he scoffed wetly, swallowing back a ball of sentiment. "A silly little-girl-slap ain't gonna scare me away."

 _But what about_ \- she started to think and then interrupted herself as she rose on the tips of her toes to plant her burning lips right over his.

Confusion briefly swept across the half-demon's face as the woman in his arms poured everything blistering in her heart over him like syrup on pancakes in the morning. She pulled away slowly and they looked at each other in a moment of complete understanding.

Inuyasha found his mouth unreasonably dry as he tugged her forward, his lips brushing against hers again. He could taste the trace of a honey-bun from her dinner, and the scent of pine and musk rose from the heat of her skin. Her arms wound themselves around his neck and the passion that kindled between them grew to scalding heights. He threw everything into the kiss- every frustration, every moment of tension between them, every feeling that she left branded against his skin. She gasped and he took the initiative to deepen the kiss further. Every nerve in his entire body was on edge, electrical currents seeming to spark from every sensitive spot as she ground her hips into his.

His pants began to feel increasingly uncomfortable as Kagome reached for the belt that held them tight against his hips.

There was no foreplay or teasing. It wasn't like one of the romance novels that he had caught Sesshomaru investigating when they were kids, or the porno videos he had stashed under his bed as a teenager.

His cock ached, the fabric of his jeans drawn tighter than they ever had been, and he was eager to shift out of them as Kagome pulled them down his legs. His heart pounded relentlessly, like a trapped bird in his chest, ready to be set free or on fire or both, and he could clearly make out hers as it beat frantically when her gaze lingered south to his tented groin.

Inuyasha had left earlier with the intention of sorting his feelings back into an organized set of angry, annoyance, and lack of empathy, but what he ended up finding instead was how much he needed to be near her again. His hands went to the zipper on her cargo pants.

"I've…" Her soft voice interrupted his thoughts, "I've never…"

"We can stop," he stressed out, breathing erratically, his eyes blinking shut to regain sense.

He opened them just in time see her shake her head in rejection of the idea, regarding the bulge in his underwear with a strange sense of determination.

He couldn't take her curious gaze for another second, feeling guilty as he stopped her observant wandering and pushed her on her back to root his mouth over hers again. He sucked and licked and pulled, half realizing that he had missed her in more ways that he hadn't even discovered yet.

But he would.

His rough hand snaked up the incline of her rib-cage, making quick work of the flimsy bra under her blouse, replacing it with a waiting palm. She sighed into his mouth, yanking at his shirt, silently requesting for him do away with it. He let it fall to the side, half-way lifting to get a good scope of the sounds in the forest, and in doing so- granting her an eye-full of the muscles that lay smooth and tan under his neck.

No zombies.

"We're good," he mumbled to himself before ducking down and capturing her swollen lips again, resting his hold on her naked hips.

But with each bump and grind, losing their clothes and becoming as naked as the day they were born- his mind was still half entrenched in the heavenly experience of her, and _half_ concentrated on not missing any lingering threats in the darkness.

"Ah, fuck this," he whispered huskily as he fisted the blanket below them. "Hold onto me."

She complied without question, her eyes clouded over in a haze of lust. He could have asked her to jump off a cliff and she would have done it. He could have branded his name across her lips and she would have allowed it.

The cut of the breeze whipped against her bare ass as they moved from the ground to the sky, landing shakily on a thick branch from the tree above.

In a flash, the blanket in his free hand was under them and he returned to his ministrations. She trailed a line of hot open-mouthed kisses against his throat, her hand ghosting over the length of him. He groaned.

Until then, Inuyasha hadn't realized how bad his hands could tremble, running them down into the unknown nest of dark curls that excitedly waited his exploration. His erection throbbed as he moved to settle in-between her legs.

Kagome closed her eyes in ecstasy, throwing her head back and pushing his face into the crook of her neck as he used two fingers to separate her. She murmured his name softly and he hesitated.

She pulled back to face him, his eyes briefly meeting hers, and he stared in stark fascination at all the outpouring adoration and consent deep within that whiskey gaze.

His mind was a pool of heat, matching the feeling in his loins as he leaned over her, quietly whispering a gargled version of her name. And entered her.

She drew a sharp breath, her body stiffening as her walls clamped tightly around him. He grunted, clawing for stability into the bark around her. The feeling was euphoric, the nature of the situation only adding more fire to the flames. Like animals in the wild, strung high in the throes of passion on a tree.

Inuyasha thought he was going to bite through his lip. She felt good. Really good. And after so long of avoiding any sort of intimate affection, this unexpected means of arousal was abruptly craved more than Inuyasha had ever thought possible. The comprehension forced him to hold back a sob, choosing to bury his feelings into the woman under him instead.

He waited to move again, eyes fixated on Kagome's expression as discomfort and pain flashed across her face.

"Kagome?"

Her lips pressed firmly into a tight line. She didn't speak, her fingers digging into the exposed flesh of Inuyasha's biceps.

For a fleeting horrified moment Inuyasha silently wondered if perhaps they should have taken it slower. Fingering or whatever the hell people did to relax.

"I'm good," she finally managed, the words coming out uneven. Under the eye of the moon he saw a lazy reassuring smile crawl around her lips. "Don't stop."

So they rocked slowly, the wood beneath them holding still despite their movements. He held one hand tightly to her hips, the other anchored against the tree, senses perfectly in tune to every sound she made. He listened to Kagome's shallow breathing- how it seemed to hitch in her throat the more intense his actions became. And soon the little sharp intakes of shaky breath were replaced with what could only be described as sighs of pleasure. He couldn't make out what felt better, the feel of him pumping into her or the sound of her voice singing with satisfaction.

"Inuyasha," she gasped, her forehead pressing against his and his thrusts grew deeper- faster. Ardent to relieve the agonizing coil that wound itself into a deep unseen part of his pelvis.

The noises of the undead echoed up at them like a cheering crowd of bystanders, but he tuned them out. Pent up tension and yearning all spiraled down into his thrusts. Hunger. Urge. Affection. Everything seemed to intensify with every passing second.

Lost in a fog that swayed between the realms of desire and desperation, Inuyasha's thoughts became a muddled mess of want and need. Her nails dug into his naked shoulders and when he locked his eyes onto hers, it was like the earth meeting sun.

"Don't let go," he said harshly and her fingers twitched against the necklace that enveloped the circle of his throat, his voice thick with emotion, plunging over and over again. "Don't let go."

And she held onto him as he let loose.

Skin slick and hot with perspiration, their bodies moved together like a synchronized wave. As if this had not been their first time but their hundredth. His hips buckled and her back arched in compliance.

A cry edged over his lips, matched swiftly by hers, and her walls began to tighten around him, bringing him faster to a peak he hadn't crested over in a very long time.

With one more thrust, he reached his climax as Kagome rode hers against him, their bodies shuddering and weak and heavy.

Inuyasha bent down carefully to brush a kiss over her parted lips and then let himself sag on top of her. She peered down at him with the same look of exhaustion and relief that he felt. Sweat glistened on his dark brow and she rose a hand to smooth it over, one foot still in an orgasmic like daze, the other hanging on the precipice of reality.

He locked his eyes on hers, his breath coming in shallow as he waited to regain it, "You okay?"

"Mhm," Kagome hummed back with half-lidded eyes and a satisfied smile. "Better than okay." Something in his gut pinched comfortably; pride rolling over him.

The moan and song of the corpses beneath them reached up towards the branches in the trees, reminding them of their predicament. She groaned and let her head fall back against the wood.

"That's your damn fault," Inuyasha mumbled against her breast, nodding towards the mob below them.

"My fault?" Kagome narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, now the whole damn forest knows my name."

She slapped his back with a little more force than necessary, "You ass."

Her fingernails traced up and down his back, combing through the long strands of silver hair on his head. She stopped when she reached the necklace again and felt a self-righteous grin light up her features. "You kept it…"

He grunted in response and she laughed.

When the sun poked its curious head over the horizon, Kagome opened her eyes and sighed with her head tucked under the half-demon's chin. She drummed her fingers against his bare chest, played with the locket, and then hummed inquisitively.

"What is it?" He asked gently.

"Whenever I'm gone-"

"Stop," he shifted, bringing her closer to him as if he could silence her with his arrogance alone.

"Whenever I'm gone," she pressed on, this time more firm. "Promise me you'll move on."

"Shut up."

* * *

**7**

"Let's say we head due south," Kagome was chattering, her skin branded by goosebumps. "It might be w-warmer down there."

"Keh," Inuyasha shrugged off the only jacket he owned and threw it over her. "We keep going north."

"But why?" She asked with a hint of annoyance, pulling the fabric tighter around her.

"Because the cold freezes them, and slows them down. We won't have to deal with them as much as we would in the south where they're warm and hungry."

Kagome pursed her lips, realizing he was right. The frost made it so that the undead couldn't move, and it made sleeping on the ground a whole lot more comfortable. Although even so, if the zombies didn't kill her, the cold just might.

"I'm just cold, is all." She admitted tartly. "And since you're so against finding sustainable housing-"

"It puts you at a disadvantage Kagome," he lectured. "There's only one way in and one way out of a house, and I don't want to be stuck waiting for slaughter when a herd passes through."

She sighed and could feel him already pulling away, so she reached out a hand and held it tightly, "Okay, we go north."

* * *

**8**

There had been a raid- a crowd of people desperately trying to run away from an immense horde of the undead- and Inuyasha had sensed it coming but couldn't have estimated the sheer mass of it until they were too late.

He pushed Kagome forward, her eyes gliding frantically between the living and the non-living. A tangled mess of teeth and blood and flesh, and she ran.

"Inuyasha!" She called back, but he didn't answer her. She skidded to a stop and twisted mid-step to watch in horror as Inuyasha lagged behind, fighting back a circle of zombies, all of them strong and newly turned. He made to jump out of it, but they tackled him down into the dirt.

"Inuyasha!" She screamed again, hoisting her crossbow over her arm and forgetting her own name as she buried arrow after arrow into their heads, reloading with the precision of a machine. A warrior cry ripped from her lungs as she sprinted back to him and finished the job with the blunt part of her crossbow, knocking enough bodies off him that he was finally able to jump to his feet.

He looked over at her in incredulous admiration and when he finally snapped out of it, he yanked her against him and they leapt away.

"What the _hell_ did you think you were doing?" He hollered when they finally made it to higher and safer ground.

But she looked too smug and happy to be bothered with his frustration, laughing to herself on bended knee.

"What's so fucking funny?"

"I saved your life," she managed in-between boughs of trembling giggles. "I _saved_ you!"

He blinked wide-eyed at her and felt a lop-sided smile ease onto his face.

"Not so useless, anymore, huh?" She winked at him.

Kagome looked happier than he had ever seen her, the blood of her fallen enemies smeared across her face and before she could continue her bragging tirade, he pulled her on top of him, undoing the stubborn buttons of her blouse, and made passionate love to her right there in the grass.

* * *

**9**

Inuyasha breathed the scent of the forest into his nostrils, digging his face deeper into the threads of raven hair under him. It was a colder night than usual and he had gathered her as close to him as possible, stripping her of all her clothes and using his skin as means to keep her warm. They were surrounded by a knit together quilt of coarse fabric. She had fallen asleep quickly, giving into exhaustion easier than him, leaving him to his own and letting his mind wander unrestricted.

Kagome had collided unceremoniously into his life a year ago, and now she was a fixed point- like a pin on a map that called to him reminding him of home. Like the shore coming to the beach, he felt like he was just as much part of himself as he was hers, swept away by an ocean of adoration. Without so much as a warning, she had comfortably situated herself into what he could only assume was the definition of…

"I love you," he croaked quietly- terrified and sure that she couldn't hear him. The last time he had allowed a riptide of emotions admit _that_ up to him, simmering forth from the cracks and fissures in his heart- was a long, long time ago in a town miles and miles away…

"And I'll keep you safe." He promised.

* * *

**10**

Inuyasha had forgotten how quickly humans spiraled into illness.

He'd forgotten how weak they become, and how often they needed to rest, and how every shuttering breath felt like a stab in the lungs.

And how badly he wanted to abandon his humanity rather than feel this crippling fear that rolled over him relentlessly like waves during a thunderstorm.

Something he had no way of protecting from.

His eyes were wide and bright and _scared_.

"Inuyasha, I'm sorry." Kagome panted deliriously. Eyes shut, and face coated in a fine sheen of sweat despite the frigid temperature in the air. "Inuyasha?"

"Don't you fucking apologize," he cried, his head bowed to her chest as he cradled her close. "I'm here. I'm here."

But she wasn't.

And would never be again.

* * *

**11**

Between the undead, the clusters of people that has lost their sense of morality, and the ever-present possibility of starvation, somehow Kagome Higruashi had died from untreated pneumonia.

Which one could argue was one of the worst ways to go- considering the cure to her disease could have been hidden anywhere- waiting on the counter in a pharmacy, hidden within a cobwebbed cupboard of an abandoned home, or in the curled up fist of a lifeless hand.

He buried her in the meadow.

Her crossbow stood as a gravestone.

Her locket burned like a tight noose around his neck.

And he mourned in the best way he could- rampaging anything that dared to breathe while she could not.

After the initial shock, Inuyasha had become paralyzed in in his grief, waiting for his own death at the root of a tree, hoping that someone, anybody, anything, would show up and just devour him already.

And at long last, something did.

Two somethings, sensing the beating heart that promised a meal, barely pulsing within the cavity of his chest. They snarled and reached for him slowly.

Sometimes they didn't even bother finishing to eat what they had started, and leaving a half-eaten corpse meant whatever had once been lunch would soon become another soldier in the undead army. He dismally wondered if that would be the case in this situation.

Awaiting his demise, he closed his eyes and let every thought in his mind become saturated with Kagome's voice.

_**"Run!"** _

_**"You're not a monster."** _

_**"I saved your life!"** _

_**"Promise me you'll-"** _

"Hey!" A voice that was certainly not dead yelled at him. "Look alive!"

He stared forward to watch in delirium as a tall pony-tailed woman took down the two zombies in front of him as easily and cleanly as he pulled the next breath from his lungs.

She turned to scan him over with a guarded look and shouted, "Miroku! There's a man here! Looks like he might need some help!"

_**"-move on."** _

_**fin** _

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: If you made it this far and read the whole thing, hands down you have just become my best friend.
> 
> Update: I will be taking on this story full-time for a long fic, preferabbly one where Inuyasha finds the meds. Just give me time, I'm mapping it out now for anyone interested. :)


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